50 000 Réis 2nd. print

The 50,000 Réis was the highest denomination Banco de Portugal circulated under the réis system before decimalization swept in the escudo in 1911. Notes of this value were emphatically not retail-economy instruments — they moved between merchants, trading houses, and the bank itself, which means genuine wear patterns from hand-to-hand public circulation are uncommon. The second print designation distinguishes it from the first-issue plates, though the substantive differences between the two runs are largely technical rather than visible to the naked eye.

Portugal's monetary position in the late 1890s was under strain — the country had defaulted on its foreign debt in 1892 and was still navigating the fiscal damage when these notes were produced.